Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas
Have enough courage to start and enough heart to finish. Jessica N.S. Yourko
I found an interesting blog post on The Bob Angle he was asking the question do writers who believe in God write better novels? I’ve never thought about this but I do think faith gives a writer something deeper to delve into as they probe the human psyche for their stories.
How much does faith play a role in our lives? We need to have faith in other people because in the early years of our life we depend on others so much. We have all found at one time or other people have failed us, and we have failed others. It is the human condition to want to do better, be better, and falling short. When we have faith in a higher power that does not let us down, that gives us strength and it seems this will help us even if somehow we find we are mistaken and there is no higher power.
When we feel we get inspiration from something outside ourselves, that we don’t know where it comes from, but it is there, we tap into something greater than ourselves. We don’t question we accept the gift. Many people call this their muse. If we don’t do our part of sitting down and writing the muse doesn’t do their part of showing up. One of the mistakes I’ve heard writers make is waiting for inspiration.
I know for myself that would be a mistake. Showing up is when inspiration happens. Going for a walk in the midst of a creative project an epiphany may happen but would it happen if we weren’t already in the middle of a project? Our brains work continuously but they need to be working on something.
I wonder how many artists or writers knew exactly what they were creating when they started. By starting they put something in motion and if they continue and bring it to completion they have something. All of life is like this. Starting is the first step, we have to get through the hard slogging of middles, and finally, we reach the finish line.
Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. Martin Luther King Jr.
Depending on the scope of what we have taken on it may take minutes, days, weeks, months, or years to complete. Some projects will test our determination and perseverance. We are not the same person at the end of a project – especially a long one that we were at the beginning. We learn things along the way. We are not the same person when we give our teenagers the car keys, we were cradling them as newborns. They have grown and developed and so have we.
We don’t think our children are ready to go out into the world and we may not think our writing or any other project of ours is either, but there comes a point when that is the next step. We have to have faith we’ve done our best, done enough, and let it go.
I was a writer that held onto my writing and now I wonder why. We often hold onto things because we are comfortable where we are, what if life changes so much we don’t recognize it. When our children leave home what will home be like without them? Writers mourn the loss of their characters when they put their stories out into the world. They had a close intimate connection with those characters they feel they lose when they call the story finished. It might be why we like a series. We can put a book out and we can keep the relationship going with our characters. If the audience likes our characters they may be waiting for the next book.
What faith in a higher power may give us more than anything else is the belief that we are unconditionally loved. When we feel loved we feel powerful. This gives us the courage to give our best to the world, deal with the setbacks, challenges, and whatever life throws at us.
Courage comes from a heart that is convinced it is loved. Beth Moore
Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Steve Jobs
Once you choose hope, anything is possible. Unknown
Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more. Have a blessed day, filled with gratitude, joy, and love.
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